Be smart, play clever, and become versed in craps the right way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Crusades, but current craps is only about one hundred years old. Modern craps evolved from the old English game referred to as Hazard. No one absolutely knows the origin of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been discovered by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It’s presumed that Sir William’s knights enjoyed Hazard through a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was gotten from the castle’s name.
Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when driven away by the English, the French moved south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their best-loved game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it mathematically fair. It is said that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which is gotten from the name of the losing toss of two in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi riverboats and across the country. A few consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the creator of modern craps. In 1907, Winn designed the modern craps setup. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so players could bet on the dice to lose. At another time, he established the spots for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.